Govt Sets Up Panel To Review Copyright Law Amid AI Disputes

SUMMARY

The Union commerce ministry established a committee of eight experts last month to examine issues related to AI and their implications on India's copyright law

The panel will analyse the legal and policy issues arising from the use of AI and submit its recommendations to the government

This comes at a time when a slew of news platforms, both globally and domestically, have sued OpenAI to prevent the AI giant from accessing their proprietary content

The Centre has reportedly set up a panel to review existing copyright law amid a rise in artificial intelligence (AI)-related disputes.

The Union commerce ministry established a committee of eight experts last month to examine issues related to AI and their implications on India’s copyright law, Reuters reported, citing an official memo.

The panel includes intellectual property lawyers, government officials and industry executives who will ascertain whether the Copyright Act, 1957 is adequate to resolve AI-related concerns, the report said.

The panel members have been directed to identify and analyse legal and policy issues arising from the use of AI in the context of copyright issues. Consequently, the committee will submit its report to the government.

The development comes at a time when a slew of news platforms, both globally and domestically, have sued OpenAI to prevent the AI giant from accessing their proprietary content.

The Legal Battle For Copyright

At the heart of concerns flagged by news platforms are the use of their copyrighted material by AI companies to train their foundational models, without licence, or permission or payment. In India, ANI filed a lawsuit before the Delhi High Court (HC) against OpenAI last year.

In January this year, media outlets, including NDTV, Network18, the Indian Express and the Hindustan Times, also joined the lawsuit against the ChatGPT creator.

The 135-page case filing made by 20 companies and Digital News Publishers Association (DNPA) in the court claims that OpenAI’s “conduct” constitutes “a clear and present danger to the valuable copyrights” of DNPA members and other outlets.

Besides, the Federation of Indian Publishers (FIP) also moved the Delhi HC earlier this year against OpenAI on behalf of all its members, including Rupa Publications, S Chand and Co, Bloomsbury, Penguin Random House, Cambridge University Press and others.

In February, major music labels such as T-Series, Saregarama and Sony also expressed their willingness to join the ongoing copyright lawsuit against the ChatGPT developer in the Delhi HC. At the time, the HC asked OpenAI to file a response regarding the application filed by industry body Indian Music Industry (IMI) to join the suit.

ANI’s plea has alleged that ChatGPT “reproduced verbatim or substantially similar extracts” of the news agency’s works in response to user prompts. The lawsuit also claims that OpenAI exploited ANI’s content for its commercial gain by using the new agency’s content to train its large language models (LLMs).

In March this year, ANI, during a hearing, told the Delhi HC that the usage of its content by the ChatGPT maker causes dilution of its market, thus leading to unfair competition.

Notably, the Sam Altman-led AI giant previously told the HC that it is not obligated to enter into partnerships with these media outlets to use their content and urged the HC to dismiss infringement claims filed against it.